Spinach Crepes with Maple-Stewed Blueberries
by Aimee
The evening I prepped this recipe was just like any other. I puttered barefoot in the kitchen to the tunes of Buena Vista Social Club, music I am revisiting and finding as just moving as the first time I heard ‘Chan Chan‘.
I cracked eggs and beat them with flour, melted butter and sauteed spinach into a crepe batter that would chill while we slept, or supposedly slept. There was no way I could have known what the night held, although little Clara had been nursing a cough during the day and was reaching for me to cuddle more than usual.
The last of my prep finished, the table set for the morning, and the final email sent, I headed upstairs to wind down for the night. It was close to eleven, and it had been a long day. A long week. A leisurely Saturday morning breakfast and the whole weekend stretched out before us, full of projects and plans, among them an autumn hike in the fall foliage of the Laurentians.
Clara’s crying drew me into her room as I passed by her door; she tried to speak but it turned into a hacking raspy cough. She clung to me; her little pyjama-clad body was burning up. Why do children’s ailments seem to always flare up at night? Who knows. Perhaps because it is only then that are we completely free from distractions and can bestow our full attention to the sufferer.
Comforting a sick two-year-old is a little hit and miss. Her requests were mumbled and unintelligible, mixed up between hiccups and coughing sessions. The only message coming through loud and clear from Clara was ‘Hold me’. So hold her I did. We rocked, sang and cuddled for the better part of an hour, then I laid her in bed and kissed her goodnight.
But the sobbing started again as soon as I slipped under my own duvet. Clara is usually a solid 7pm-7am sleeper and goes down without a peep. It was certain she was feeling miserable. We tried her in our bed for about 30 minutes, but that resulted in no sleep for any of us.
I slipped downstairs with her in my arms and set her on a chair at the table while I fixed her a warm lemon and honey. She gulped down half a banana, too, and I remembered she hadn’t been much interested in her supper. The clock on the stove glowed 12:45. I calculated that my boys already had a 5 hours jump start on their sleep. I would have a tough time keeping up with them tomorrow.
Her coughing subsiding for the moment, Clara seemed to want companionship most of all. So I unfolded a quilt, lifted a pillow from a chair and stretched out on the floor next to her bed. We held hands, her hot, banana-sticky fingers in mine, and she fell into a deep sleep. Around twenty-past one in the morning, I finally turned in to bed. If it wasn’t for knowing these crepes awaited me in the morning, I might still be under the covers.
The boys have nick-named our favourite green breakfast “More Than Amazing Crepes”; I think it’s pretty amazing that they contain 3 packed cups of fresh spinach and still get gobbled up in a flash. The boys top them with the usual line up of bananas, Nutella, whipped cream or maple syrup, but Danny and I love to pair ours with gently stewed blueberries. I’ve made the sauce with both fresh and frozen blueberries and it’s delicious either way.
There’s something about sitting down, civilized-like, and treating my family to a special breakfast that made me forget how rough the night was. Noah squeezed the orange juice by hand (and left out his infamous ‘straw technique’ this time) while I flipped the crepes and Danny brewed coffees. Clara was still a tad feverish, but not too sick to tuck into a plate of crepes and ask for extra whipped cream.
We never made it up North to see the fall foliage, but best laid plans can only get you so far. Planning ahead brought us around the table for spinach crepes that Saturday, and that was enough.
| Spinach Crepes | Print |
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted, divided,
- 3 cups packed baby spinach
- 3 medium eggs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in a saute pan until bubbly. Add spinach all at once and sauté, stirring continually, for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
- Crack the eggs into a blender and pulse a few times. Add the warm spinach and blend until smooth.
- Add the flour and blend again. Stop the blender, remove the lid and scrape down the sides.
- Add milk, 3 Tablespoons melted butter, salt and vanilla to the crepe batter. Blend until smooth. Blend an additional minute. Place the blender jug in the refrigerator and chill the batter overnight.
- In the morning, blend the batter one more time as it will have separated overnight. Preheat a 8 or 10-inch non-stick pan over medium heat.
- Brush pan with melted butter and pour a scant 1/4-cup of batter into the centre. Immediately lift the pan and tilt in a circular motion so the batter coats the pan in a circle. Cook for about a minute, or until the edges are light golden.
- Slip a flexible spatula under the crepe and flip it with a delicate hand. Cook for an additional 30 seconds, then remove and fold into four.
| Maple-Stewed Blueberries | Print |
- 1 Tablespoon salted butter
- 1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- a squeeze of fresh lemon
- In a small sauce pan over medium heat, melt the butter and toss in the berries.
- Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour in the maple syrup. Add a squeeze of lemon.
- Cook the sauce for an additional minute, then remove from heat and spoon over crepes.
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